Farringdon Capital Ltd. Makes New $916,000 Investment in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Farringdon Capital Ltd. purchased a new stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 5,634 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $916,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AMAT. Advisory Resource Group boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 22.5% during the 3rd quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 24,867 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $5,024,000 after acquiring an additional 4,561 shares in the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 3.7% during the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,746 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $757,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co boosted its position in Applied Materials by 26.4% during the third quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 47,649 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $9,627,000 after purchasing an additional 9,941 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 70.6% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,845 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,989,000 after purchasing an additional 4,073 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sfmg LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 0.4% in the third quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 54,967 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $11,106,000 after buying an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Materials news, CEO Gary E. Dickerson purchased 50,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $137.30 per share, with a total value of $6,865,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,716,058 shares in the company, valued at approximately $235,614,763.40. This represents a 3.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.83, for a total transaction of $65,173.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $880,131.91. This represents a 6.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $235.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $202.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Mizuho cut their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.29.

Applied Materials Price Performance

AMAT opened at $138.19 on Thursday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.74 and a 1 year high of $255.89. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $154.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $171.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $112.27 billion, a PE ratio of 18.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.67.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a net margin of 22.95% and a return on equity of 39.50%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, March 10th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the manufacturing equipment provider to repurchase up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 22nd. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 24.05%.

Applied Materials Profile

Applied Materials, Inc engages in the provision of manufacturing equipment, services, and software to the semiconductor, display, and related industries. The company operates through three segments: Semiconductor Systems, Applied Global Services, and Display and Adjacent Markets. The Semiconductor Systems segment develops, manufactures, and sells various manufacturing equipment that is used to fabricate semiconductor chips or integrated circuits.